It’s still Christmas at Café de Coral/大家樂

I assumed that after the 25th of December, a day that here didn’t seem much different from every other public holiday, the biggest downside of the season (except for the cold — well, minimum temperature of 10°C/50°F, to be exact) could be safely dispense with. That downside is, of course, the tendency of every 茶餐廳 and many other public places to play idiosyncratic cover versions of Christmas songs, carols or long-forgotten B-sides, even during mealtimes. Obscure Canadian singers, out-of-tune long-dead children, a cappella and instrumental: I heard them all. [The synth-only version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was a special torture that John Cage would kick himself for not thinking of first].

But no. Going to lunch (well, “tea set”, i.e. lunch at a later hour than is considered usual, made up for by being half the regular price and regularly unhealthier too) at Café de Coral (Chinese name: 大家樂) earlier today, the self-same songs — which CdC prefers to have in cod-jazz no-singing form — were still playing. And the standard packet of sugar looked like this:

An artist's impression of what a snowman looks like, based on hearsay

I’m taking bets on when everything will go back to “normal”… Mid-February, anyone?